D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

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Thursday, September 5, 2019 | 5th Elul 5779
Dear All,
Sadly I wasn’t at the New York Ride last weekend – because we didn’t do one this year. But I send love and gratitude to anyone who ever participated in the Ride, or led the Ride, or[...]

by Sarah Rockford, JOFEE Fellow Cohort 4, Maine Jewish Food Network at Colby College Center for Small Town Jewish Life – Waterville, ME
Parshat Eikev
Fourteen years ago I read from parshat Eikev as a bat mitzvah. As I stood on the bimah and chanted[...]

by Hannah Fine - Hazon Detroit
Parshat Shelach
In parshat Shelach, Moses sent twelve spies to scout out the land of Canaan and report back to the Israelites. All of the spies returned with the same objective report. It was a land[...]

by Jared Kaminsky, Shoresh
Parshat Vayechi
In only 3 short months, I’ll be turning 30 years old! I was recently married, and purchased a home, and feel that I have made a massive leap into adulthood. I will one day, G-d willing,[...]

by Ilana Unger, Pearlstone Center
Parshat Vayeishev
In parshat Vayeishev (Genesis 37:1-40:23), lands on the third Shabbat of Kislev, we connect deeply to this Jewish month of actualization and revelation. For example: Vayeishev is the Hebrew word for “and he lived” (actualization) and[...]

by Alex Voynow, Jewish Farm School
Parshat Haazinu
[NOTE: Applications for the next JOFEE Fellowship cohort are open now through October 5! Apply today!]
In Ha’azinu, Moses sees the Israelites for who they are: humans, scarred by 40 years of impatient wandering and in[...]

by Jared Kaminsky, Shoresh
Parshat Shoftim
The parsha of the week is Shoftim, which means Judges. As Moses nears the end of his life, he wants to ensure there is a system of governance in society. Shoftim gives detailed ordinances on many topics[...]

by Sofia Marbach, Wilderness Torah
Parshat Re'eh
I set before you today a blessing and a curse;
The blessing, that you will heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the[...]

by Brenden Jackson, Amir with Shalom Community Farm Houston
Parshat Eikev
In Parshat Eikev, Moses calls upon his people to reflect on their past in order to remember and obtain the future that was promised to them. As they prepare to enter[...]

by Henry Schmidt, Shalom Institute
Parshat Devarim
The Torah may be our past, but Devarim, the shared name both for this week’s Torah portion and for the fifth book of the Torah, is our history.
What is the difference between past[...]

by Eliezer Weinbach, Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Hazon
Parshat Maasei
Earlier this year, Isabella Freedman hosted a Moishe House retreat called “Wandering Jews.”
Led by New York Times contributor Eli Reiter, twelve people in their twenties and thirties got together to[...]

by Henry Schmidt, Shalom Institute
Parshat Balak
I thought Balak was a story about a donkey.
That is to say, when I sat down to write this blog post, I expected to write about the talking donkey we’ll soon meet. Understandably, a talking[...]

by Alex Voynow, Jewish Farm School
Parshat Chukat
In Chukat, our mother dies.
“Miriam died there [at Kadesh] and was buried there. The people were without water and they joined against Moses and Aaron.” ~Numbers 20.1-2
Miriam's death gets one line, and then the[...]

by Mollie Sharfman, GatherDC
Parashat Shlach
We put the twelve spies on trial on my Chumash/Bible class in my Jewish Day School when I was thirteen. My friend Leah Estreicher and I were appointed lawyers for the defense team. We studied the[...]

by Frances Lasday, Teva, Hazon
Parshat Behaalotecha
What strikes me most about this week's parsha, Behaalotecha, is the kvetching. The parsha (Torah portion) spends an entire chapter retelling several instances where the Jewish people complained endlessly. So, what can we learn from[...]

We were pleased and proud to graduate the second cohort of JOFEE Fellows last month at our closing seminar at the brand-new Urban Adamah farm and community center in Berkeley, CA. With this cohort’s sixteen fellows, we have now graduated[...]

by Darya Watnick, Edlavitch DC JCC, Washington, DC
Chayei Sarah
This week’s Torah portion is Chayei Sarah, literally “The Life of Sarah.” The title is a bit of a misnomer, as Sarah dies in the second verse. This portion instead focuses on[...]

by Brittany Feldman - Hazon - Detroit, Michigan
This week's Torah Portion, Vayeira, discusses circumcision, birth, destruction, disobedience, and devotion. With so many themes in one portion, I’m choosing to focus on one that stood out to me the most, disobedience.
In[...]